Kabul, Afghanistan - Nearly half a million of pounds of opium poppy seeds have been confiscated in southwestern Afghanistan during a joint raid by NATO and Afghan National Security forces, officials said.

The operation took place Wednesday in the Delaram district of Nimroz province, which borders Iran.

The find represents the largest uncovered by Afghan and coalition forces this year, according to Ministry of Interior spokesman Sediq Seddiqi.

The opium poppy can be used to make heroin and other drugs, and is considered a staple of insurgent funding.

Afghanistan is considered the world's leading cultivator of opium poppy, ahead of Myanmar, according to a 2011 United Nations report.

The country accounts for 63% of the world's total areas under opium poppy cultivation, despite a smaller harvest last year due to an unspecified disease in opium plants.

Locally, one gram of heroin costs around $4, the U.N. reported. After the product is transported to illicit markets in the United States or northern Europe, the same amount is worth between $170 to $200 per gram.

In a separate operation in Kandahar province, security forces also uncovered 4,400 pounds (nearly 2,000 kilograms) of hashish and 33 pounds (15 kilograms) of ammonium nitrate, which can be used in fertilizers and as an explosive component.

soundoff(157 Responses)

BMihaelll

oh my god, you should definetaly turn your story in to tvb and have tvb make this into a series! I stayed up until 4 in the morning to finish the story. Thank you so much for such a wonderful and suspendful story.

First the typical misleading CNN caption THEN we find out it was only seeds. I've been raided 3 times myself here in the USA. Do you think they got all MY seeds or can stop me? Idiots. The people have spoken. I will grow and ingest what I want when I want. Speak out for choice. The committee will meet on July 28 th at 1:00 pm in Room 431 of the Indiana Statehouse.
Be there, not L7.

Afghanistan has always been a war on drugs and always will be. However, it is presently still a war on terror and that is and should be the major focus. The rest of your post is just disturbing and insulting. With an attude like that, their hatred of Americans is justified.

Well this is edge dressing for the dumb and blind! I have personally seen and has every other in the military see us allow these crops harvested every year! In fact there isn’t any fighting when they do harvest poppy seeds for 2 weeks every year!! If we bombed their poppy fields or stopped them from growing this stuff the Afghans would have brought Osama’s head on a platter years ago and these Wars would have been over.
I wonder if the US gov can keep treating Americans like retards forever?

The only thing I'd like to see the Muslims do is lower the price on fountain drinks at 7-11. You can't make people civil, they still stone people to death for Christ sake. We killed Osama, destroyed the Taliban, ousted Saddam, etc. We've spent 10 years putting those people in control of their own destiny. USA swung the bigstick like we always do.

Hi Prophet,. I think there are 2 main reasons why USA did intervene in Libya abd not in Syria.
The first one is economical. In Libya there is oil, and they started to get some from the rebels. Gaddafi was not friendly with US oil companies and only one (Marathon oil) got some little contracts in Libya. Conversely, Syria has not oil.
The second is because Sirya is more supported then Libya by Iran China and Russia, and conversely USA could get less cooperation from France and UK.

opium is produced by putting cuts in common poppy (opium poppy) seed pods, letting the latex bleed out, wait for it to turn brown, and collect it. The brown sap (opium) is processed into heroin, supplying a horrible addiction worldwide.
what they apparently found, however, goes great on bagels.

Come on, we all know the CIA uses Gitmo as a base to import the drugs from our puppet gov.'ts. This is just a bs piece to make us Americans feel better about the 21st century colonialism going on in Afganistan.

The chinese, eh? Do you even have a CLUE to how little the percentage of American debt they own? Apparently not. Look up the numbers sometime. If the chinese could take us over or 'own' us with how little of our debt they actually possess, well... it'd be bizzaro world.

Good job stop this war one seed at a time. It's killing our own friends or family.... I hope our nations the best but if u take the heroin out of the u.s.a. it will strike a new war.. that would be over similar product as in prescription drugs...

As far I understand the Americans has lost the peace in their mind due to their ACT against nature, and the civilized valve of human being describe in the holy books specially the Qur'an. American are good democrats behind the filthy tricks of CIA, but in free world they are the greedy, hungry wolf, with no human being valve at all – the great greedy wolf George bush. they lost every respect in this world

And now they'll ship this into the united states and put it to the streets and all this money the c.I.a gets from these "operations" is used to finance there overthrows of elected officials. The govt is creating a drug problem in america by owning the land its harvested on. This is corruption and needs to be investigated more.

You Americans are silly. When you default, we make you eat ricecake and hard boiled egg. Bagel make you fat, lazy American addicted to poppy. Rice and hard boiled egg all day while you lazy american work for dime in glorious Chinese state sweatshop.

Terrorism the United States has waged on it's own people/country as well as foreign nations & economies since the enactment of the Harrison Anti Narcotic Act was implemented in 1915 & the Marijuana Tax Act of 1936 or 37, whichever year it was. Richard Nixon's "War on Drugs" allowed vast expansion of programs to eradicate "Drugs" by spraying vast amounts of poisonious herbicides on foreign grounds/territories with long term results which probably have not yet been realized. REGARDING NUKE EM & Incarceration LOVERS-Go live on Three Mile Island

Gee Dan got any explanation for the democratic congress that existed for nearly ten years that got us in the mess we're in right now? How about your union savior Barry Obama who has spent 3 trillion dollars in 2.5 years?
Ummm Didn't think so.

You are obviously an undereducated Muslim of one type or another. I can tell by your nonsensical posting that you are greatly confused regarding the reality of things. The things you speak of do not exist in the real world.I believe that the US government has you on a terrorist watch list...at least they do now.

As well as the Opiates & all of its deriatives synthetic or semisynthetics. If a person can not pass the test on the substance they desire to try/utilize & they still desire to try/utilize it have them see a Physcian & allow the person to do so under the supervision of trained personel & the Police would not/should not be looked @ as an agency which could perform such a daunting task. Require all substances which can be grown in the United States to come only from the U.S. With outsourcing only for products which can not be grown in our country. Free the Earth of the Global

Hippocrates the Father of Modern Day Medicine stated "Any substance which can be reduced to a white powder is potentially a poison." This is true for many substances most people consider harmless like Sugar or Salt. Look @ the toll processed foods have upon the U.S. Populace. Diabetis, Hypertension, Hypercholesterolemia... Are results of an uninformed populace on the consequences of even common food substances usages. So yes educate about Salt, Sugar, Caffeine, common substance's found in most U.S.homes as well as Nicotene, Alcohol, Marijuana & it's products

Truly educating the populace about drugs/medications effects, side effects, indications, contraindications & destroying the myths regarding them is essential to any cognitive thought on the "Drug War" issue. No one benefits from further propaqanda from the DEA, Partnership for Drug Free America, or the United States Police State other than those who are employed by them. Educate the masses about the substances they are interested in using then give them a test to see if they can responsibly utilize these subtances & give them an approval stamp for it in their "Drug Port" ~ to a "Passport" with visa pages. After obtaining an approval stamp, which would denote/show informed consent/knowledge about said subtance allow the person to obtain it through a State or Federal Outlet which would place a tax on substance & generate funds for our Country in an honest manner. Then when/if someone realizes they have a problem with a substance there could be funding money for such programs from the legal sale of object.

As far as I'm concerned this just illustrates once again the absurdity of our "War on Drugs". Wiping out seeds may delay things for a short while (and I do mean short) but what the article and authorities fail to mention is you can buy numerous varieties of opium producing poppy seeds from a variety of world wide sources including within the US. Just go to your next home and garden show and I can guarantee you there will be at least 3-4 poppy varieties for sale that are in fact true opium poppies. Jesus, when are we going to grow up and deal with drugs in a rational manner?

As if the failed drug war in THIS country isn't enough, we have to spend our limited resources fighting it in ANOTHER country while we are absolutely broke. Is a stupid "drug war" our top priority right now? Really? Why?

Your drug war Dorothy has caused far more damage to the US and the world than the drugs ever could have. Time to grow up Dorothy and start dealing with these issues in an effective and intelligent way. You can start by tossing out the propaganda you've been fed all your life and start using facts instead of mindless emotion and hysteria. You may also want to get a handle on just how much this 40 year old fiasco has cost all the taxpayers. Could be an interesting discussion at your next Tea Party meeting!

this is much like marijuana.The tobacco giant Winston-Salem and RJ Reynolds both grow marijuana-lots of it-yet the feds raid mom n pop operations and deny that anyone has the right to grow it,yet the state of Mississippi has been growing pot for over 50 years-thousands of acres of it-for research?
Its time for clarity-we spend billions of tax $$ to bust folks for what our Govt allows big business to do! Legalize it all-the serious tax funds will roll in and the idiots who abuse the hard drugs will od and that takes care of that issue

Oddly enough, our own CIA helped managed the production and exports of Opium during Vietnam-with covert agents in the region,and when Bush,Jr had us invade the region-production was the highest in 40 years...remember his dad was director of the CIA when the USA funded bin Laden to fight the USSR.WE are only getting part of the story.I suspect that the opium seized will be brought to market anyway..its a huge cash cow for whom ever gets their greedy hands on it-and what about the farmers who rely on its sales to feed their families?

So we found evidence that the #1 country of illegal trafficking of OPIUM has OPIUM.....
Osama is DEAD, WHY ARE WE HERE? bring every single troop home and have nation build the United States. our transportation system is 3rd world now.

I always wonder why news agencies fail to point out that opium is not just used for making heroin. Where the heck does everyone think all of our favorite drugs come from?? Oxycontin, Morphine, Vicodin, Methadone, Codeine, Oxycodone, Percocet, the list goes on and on. Big Pharm makes 'em and we keep eating them up.
And where do we get our opium from to make all of these wonderful drugs? hmmmm...

Lots of drug abuse in the U.S...opium dens have been around forever..I'm for genetically changing the poppy plant ...just add a brain cell to it..that way the users will have something going for themselves...as far as the growers..probably wouldn't make a difference..remember when you were young and "Money" was the root to all "Evil"...What is the answer today??

What dope exactly? These are poppy seeds, not the mature plants themselves and definitely not any refined product. As several people below have noted this "bust" probably did nothing but affect the supply chain for a bunch of bagel shops.

Wow, 4,400 pounds of hash. Nowhere near as dangerous or toxic as heroin, and they probably destroyed all of it. Hell, hashish is safer to consume than alcohol. What a damn shame its illegal in the states. The US Govt should regulate and legalize its number one cash crop (mary jane, look it up, its a bigger market than corn in the US) - they could make HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS a year in just tax revenues on it, without a doubt, if you look up the numbers and use your brain you can easily find this out. Heck, they could even open up and create revenue and another good market for the people afghanistan to prosper off of. Put all the opium growers into marijuana growing/hash making and import that stuff into the states, thus making more tax monies for the USA. On top of that, we would cut the HUGE WASTE (beyond huge) of money on the drug eradication on marijuana, that for decades, has been proven a failure (drug war? never ends with cannabis... thats a fact)

Good thing this month we got another state on the legalization of marijuana board... (16 states out of 50 now made it legal to possess). As soon as the fat cats controlling investments/banking get a clue and read a few books, they will continue to think like the rest of the misinformed, that marijuana,cannabis,weed,hash,etc is as bad as opium. That is hands down a false claim by

Easy, but most are lazy. Better indoors anyway. Can you imagine your neighbors not pulling the males and messing up your crops. Sometimes I feel like it being illegal keeps male pollen from floating into our guerrilla farmer's farms. I'm not for prohibition in any since, but just pointing out this catch 22.

This is a weak argument. You can brew your own beer if you want but most just go down to the local beer store and buy it instead. I would expect things to be very similar. Some would grow their own b/c to them it is a hobby. Some would throw some seeds in the back yard one year just b/c they could. But most would just put it on the counter next to their sixer of Bud and pay the tax. What would throw off the estimates more would be the reduced prices brought about by the ease of access to the supply of product as well as the reduced cost associated with avoiding the police.

I agree there's a lot of money to be made from taxes, but how much money are governments making from it being illegal. Prisons certainly make some fat cash. Police definitely get bonuses. They know where the money is!

uhhh, they have been growing opium in Afghanistan before America was even discovered by anyone, or before America was even called America. Get a clue before acting like a know it all.... your name is fitting besides the S at the end

…”forty mon, or two metric tons, of opium once a month from the Afghan border town of Spin Boldak. The drugs were carried by a convoy…into Iran. Although the police in Afghanistan and Pakistan were bribed to give the convoy safe passage, the Iranian police were not….Sikander…was making $125,000 to $250,000 in profits each trip.”
(6,900 tons of opium were being trafficked from Afghanistan in 2009)

Nelson! That is a GREAT idea! You are absolutely right. Send those cowards who wait until a dealer makes millions off the crime, misery, and suffering of addicts and THEN raid the home, office, etc. Now, you have it all in one BIG package. You have drugs, money, possessions, and equally important, you have another photo-op and "proof" of the value and efficiency of this most criminal of agencies. Bring those brave souls who put their lives on the line daily to protect American interests and start rebuilding their lives as I am sure war changes a person in a negative way, some to the point of suicide, and honor their patriotism by sending in replacements who deserve to feel what's it's like to truly fight this absurd "Drug War".

…”forty mon, or two metric tons, of opium once a month from the Afghan border town of Spin Boldak. The drugs were carried by a convoy…into Iran. Although the police in Afghanistan and Pakistan were bribed to give the convoy safe passage, the Iranian police were not….Sikander…was making $125,000 to $250,000 in profits each trip.”
(6,900 tons of opium were being trafficked from Afghanistan in 2009)

Source: Matthieu Aikins’s shocking article in Harper’s Magazine (Dec., 2009), about the multi-billion dollar opium trade in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and how the governments and militaries of these two countries tolerate, condone, assist, protect, and work for and with the opium traffickers.

If i see one more dumb comment about NATO stealing the plant and selling it to finance the war im going to vomit. do you know we already use the seed to make pain killers. Its so insanely cheap to produce, we dont need to steal it from the cavemen. Not everything in life is a conspiracy you America hating wastes of space

How hard can it be to introduce a disease or a gene modification to the poppy and destroy the crop before the drug is produced? I think that is the simplest way to end the problem, although someone will be out the money they make from the drugs...

That's all we need... another superbug type strain of death that is killing all life it touches. That way we can get more moronic scientists to develop even more man-made chemicals, with even more chemical compounds that cause cancer. That way, in time it creates an even newer "super-superbug" that cannot be stopped. Thus continuing the nonstop cycle of bs man-made nonsense that screws over our planet......

This is what is wrong with these people and their values! What a messed up hell hole it is, but our country wants to turn it into "little america"!! Nuke the place, and their heroin crops – problem solved. Then all the troops can come home!!

What an arrogant stupid moron you are.. "Nuke the place than bring the troops home..???" Arrogant american moron answer to everything they cannot buy, defeat or control.. nuke the place... You better wish China is not as arrogant and stupid as you are ...retard

So FIRST we nuke it, THEN the troops come home? Wow, if I didn't shake my head at your asinine, redneckish type "nuke em all" comment - the logic you use REALLY IS MORONIC. Please leave my country, you are a disgrace.

Very good job NATO and the ANS. This takes away money from the insurgents, BUT i WISH that our government would just let the Muslims take care of their own business and give up HOPE in trying to help them, and according to the news reports ALSO the terrorists, in learning how to live together in ONE world IN GOD"S LOVE!

Wow John. You are a disgrace to Americans like me. You are the reason "stupid" muslims hate america. Because people like you feed the fire of hate and seperation because you have no good life.

John, you typed "towelhead camel jockey" but all that means is truly nothing but a slur trying to get attention from other uneducated people on the other side of the globe. what a way to show the world how America thinks..... you disgraceful redneck imbred idiot. please go north of texas and get a clue about life outside your box!

Seriously GladesGoo. Why dont you drop your own hate before telling someone else to drop theirs. You are BOTH wrong. I live in Texas, consider myself a moderate, and I am working on a Ecotoxicology degree by studying the effect of toxin generated by Blue Green Algae. The reason why I mentioned this? I dont like being sterotyped as an idiot RACIST!

I have lived all over the United States during my 43 years and have found the following to be true. There are a lot of good, caring, educated people in the South. And that you can find rednecks anywhere.

Imbred Is actually spelled inbred.
I would suggest that before you call someone out for being a moron you would at least use spellcheck.
And don't knock on Texas' door unless you wish a Texan to answer. Just sayin

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Afghanistan Crossroads is where CNN's reporting converges -- bringing you a diversity of voices, stunning images and video, global perspectives and the latest news from on the ground in Afghanistan and around the world.